Real Estate Stalking

Sorry no new apartment photos yet. I want to take pictures in natural light and since it's dark almost all the time it will have to wait until the weekend. Speaking of which, it is just as dark and cold here in Montreal as it is in Iqaluit. Seriously, tomorrow it will be colder here than there. Not very excited about that.

One of my favourite hobbies (and Chad's most hated- because I send him all the links to review) is looking at real estate online. My standby is realtor.ca and there is nothing I love more than Saturday morning with a coffe and real estate listings. Does anyone else do this, or am I just crazy? Although we aren't buying anything right now it doesn't hurt to start looking. I normally like to look at things that are in my pretend price range but then every once in a while I get reckless and pick the 'unlimited' budget button.

This beauty is in a great neighbourhood, Le Plateau/Mont Royal, and is listed no where near my budget at 1.2 million. I love the exposed brick, the glass garage door windows (is that the right term?) the beams, the stainless steel kitchen, the walk in closet! Looks like there is even a garage for Chad. Who wants to buy this for me?

Why is there a huge tumbleweed here?

This next one is outside of downtown Montreal, in Laval. So it's the suburbs, which means more space but at least a 45 minute drive to 'downtown'. I think this is a really well done renovation of a 1950s home. I personally would have kept it more 50s but I'm a sucker for vintage and love nothing more than a pink and black tiled bathroom. The kitchen is neutral but interesting-nice backsplash and light fixture (we have the same one in the office). I love the wrap around fire place that's open to both rooms and the bathroom. It's already painted a nice shade of grey. Ready to move into this one at a still above budget $595,000.

This last one I would buy in a heartbeat. The area is Mercier/Hochelaga/Masionneuve, which is an area I'm not sure about but the price is in our budget at $319, 000 (although who knows how much a renovation would cost). You may think I've completely lost it on this one but I love the idea of taking this hot mess out if it's time warp and turning it into something 'vintage modern'. This transformation would be done mostly by Chad with me 'assisting' i.e. handing tools. I actually kind of like the patterned carpets and the curved kitchen island and some of the crazy wallpaper. It would all probably have to come out but I think this place would need more of an update than a overhaul and you could customize it to your taste (unless your taste is blue carpet). What do you think? Let's buy it and you can come over in the summer and use my stylish above ground pool.